


if We Got Nothing We Got Us

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, bad ass!Leo, frustrated and cocky but not evil Triplett, post End of the Beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-18 02:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1412278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Triplett tries his best to take advantage of his close quarters to Simmons while they're stationed at the Hub. But much to his displeasure, all she can talk about is her absent partner. If he'd though Fitz was bad, Simmons is a new level of smitten. When things go south and they're surrounded by men holding them at gunpoint, he thinks his moment has come, but a certain Scotsman thwarts his efforts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if We Got Nothing We Got Us

"So it must be nice to have a larger lab to work with for awhile. That one on the plane must get cramped with your partner around all the time. And it's small to begin with." Triplett leaned easily on an empty table, watching Simmons take elaborate notes about something she was spinning in a centrifuge for thirty second increments. 

"I suppose. Fitz and I have worked together since before the academy, we went to university together and we were recruited together, I'm surprised Agent Hand split us up in the first place. I'm more used to him taking up space than not taking up space. We have a system and it works, and at least when he's around I have a pair of experienced, although reluctant, hands to help me with complicated dissections and the like." Simmons shrugged and recorded a few lines of numbers in neat small writing before turning the machine on again and watching the vials spin with interest. After another half a minute of whirring she removed them altogether and tilted them, one by one, watching the liquid move in the light, before setting them into a tray and jotting down more numbers. 

"Still, even when someone's your best friend, it's nice to get some time away from them. I know I like getting time away from everybody I work with." the male agent said smoothly, glancing over at Simmons, who was still focused on her lines of data. 

"Oh, not really. Fitz is more than my best friend, he's my partner. He's the most brilliant person I've ever met. Did you know, when we were still in university together, he once set off every fire alarm in the entire school at the same time, and had them go on and off in rhythm for ten minutes? All because he wanted to win a bet with a friend of ours. He never got caught either. It was hilarious. Ear shattering, but hilarious. I'm amazed he managed to stay hidden behind the lecturn with his laptop. Fitz is a bit of a klutz, you see, so it's a miracle he didn't fall over and make himself known." she chuckled to herself as she began entering the numbers into her laptop, some sort of complicated code appearing on the holotable that she was connected to as she did.

Triplett repressed the desire to sigh exasperatedly. He'd hoped in volunteering to be the agent who stayed behind to keep an eye on Simmons he could make some progress with her, but so far all she could do was talk, at length, about Leopold Fitz. Now, Triplett wasn't dense. He could tell immediately that Fitz had feelings for his best friend and partner. The little time he'd spent with the two of them together, he didn't think Fitz's attention had left Simmons once. But Simmons had been harder to read, and while most of the time her attention had been firmly revolved around Fitz, he'd thought maybe getting her away from him would give him some sway. He had, apparently, thought wrong. 

"I don't know how you spend so much time with one person. I can barely keep a friend for a year or two, let around more than a decade." bitterness crept into his voice, but Simmons didn't seem to notice. 

"It's not so hard when you understand someone. Fitz and I balance and understand each other in a way neither of us are ever likely to find in anyone else. So we treasure each other and the bond we've forged more deeply than we do most things. When you care for someone as much as I do for Fitz, you take the time to nurture the relationship, only pick the fights that really matter, make sure you stay in touch. I don't think Fitz and I have spent more than a week apart in at least five years." At her last admission she frowned slightly, pausing in her incessant typing to stare forlornly for a moment. One hand reached up to her sweater and touched the chain that hung beneath. She kept it tucked neatly under her sweaters and shirts, but Simmons wore the delicate chain at almost all times. On the end of the gold links, there was a small pendant suspended, rose gold in the shape of the atomic arrangement of dopamine. A graduation present from Fitz because, as he said, as long as they were friends, they could be happy. No matter what else happened. 

Clearly, Triplett had made a grave tactical error in miscalculating the amount of thought Simmons put into her friendship with Fitz. His fingers tapped anxiously on the table as he listened to her ramble, waiting for her to stop speaking or something to happen so he could leave the room. A call from Agent Hand, a visiting agent, literally anything so he didn't have to listen to Simmons talk about Fitz anymore. A series of loud footsteps and a door being kicked open interrupted Triplett's sulking and Simmons' current ramble about Fitz. 

"Both of you, arms in the air. Hand's orders." one of the agents, whom had just stormed into the lab, barked. Simmons followed his order immediately, her eyes wide and confused. Triplett narrowed his, reaching one hand into the air and the other towards his back pocket, but another agent snarled at him and shook his gun, so he gave up reaching for his gun and put both arms all the way up. 

"What does Agent Hand want? She was the one who ordered us here in the first place? I haven't disobeyed any orders..." Simmons kept her voice level and controlled, but fear and confusion were evident in her eyes. 

"Forward, out of the lab!" The head agent yelled again, the rest of the small squad moving to surround them as Simmons and Triplett shuffled forward, hands still elevated. They were steered out of the lab and into the hallway, then towards a large control room on the main floor of the Hub. At the head of the room, in front of a bank of monitors and glowing maps, was Victoria Hand. 

"Hello., Agents Triplett and Simmons. Good to see you. I hope the facilities here have been to your satisfaction during your stay." the woman turned around and smiled easily, but there was something menacing in her grin that made both Simmons and Triplett uneasy. "I saw via my monitoring system that you've finished those tests I asked you for, Agent Simmons. I appreciate it."

"Of course, ma'am." Simmons said, nodding tersely. 

"Unfortunately, now that I've gotten the information I needed from those tests and your computer, you're simply too intelligent of an asset to leave on the loose. Especially when you have that plucky little engineer on your side. Agent Fitz would, I have no doubt, so something very stupid to get you back. So, agents, please take Jemma Simmons to the fridge. Lock her up. Triplett, I may still need, so he may stay here. Handcuffed." she glared coldly at both of them. Simmons struggled against the agents moving to drag her towards the bay of cells below the facility and Triplett tried, and failed, to reach his gun. 

"Yeah, well where's your brilliant Fitz now, Simmons." he mumbled under his breath as he tried to incapacitate the man holding him with a kick to the shins. 

With a sudden popping sound, followed by a loud and electric hum, the lights and monitors all went dead, just long enough for chaos to break out. Simmons bit down on the hand of the agent holding her back and stepped on his foot, rolling away. There were a series of blue flashes and grunts and the sound of people hitting the ground. A few moments later, Simmons and Triplett barely making a break for the door, the lights flickered back on, and standing outside of the control room was none other than Fitz, with the whole team behind him, all holding ICERs. Hand moved to pull a switch on the wall, some sort of lockdown protocol override, but a single blue ICER bullet hit her square in the forehead before she could. 

"Oh no you don't." Fitz said, his voice cold. "We should cuff all of them. Report them all to Fury. Or, you guys should. I have something else to deal with." His eyes softened as he moved to look at Simmons, who looked confused and exhausted as she stared up at him and nursed what was probably a dislocated shoulder. He fell to his knees in front of her and immediately wrapped his arms around her, careful not to jostle her too much. After a moment, he pulled back, stroking his finger tips over her face, shaking his head softly. Simmons thought he looked like he might cry, not that it mattered, there were already tears on her own face. "Jemma." he whispered softly. "Jemma, Jemma, Jemma, my darling Jemma." he kissed the top of her head and Simmons leaned forward, letting her head fall into his chest. 

"Leo." she mumbled, her voice cracking softly. "Leo how did you know?"

"Agent Hand took over our plane remotely. There was a bit of an misunderstanding with Agent May but it worked itself out and her and Skye backhacked the signal to fly the plane towards the source and it brought us here and as soon as I saw the Hub I panicked because I knew you were here and something had to be wrong so I made everyone come in fully armed. I guess Hand either is, or is working with, the Clairvoyant. We thought May was for a moment, but it turned out she was just working with Fury to keep an eye on Coulson. Anyway, once we were in I used a drone to restart the fuse box to give us enough time to knock everyone out without risking a fire fight. I could risk you getting caught in the crossfire. Not when I was so close to finally getting to swoop in and save you." Fitz was babbling, but by the end his tone had leveled off and gotten soft as he stared at Simmons intensely. She shook her head and gripped him tight as he helped her upright. 

"Oh, Leo. You silly, stupid, brave, perfect man." she shook her head and buried her face in his neck. 

"Agent Ward, wanna help me lock these guys up?" Triplett gave a last look toward Simmons before turning to Ward. "And let these kids get some rest?" he hitched a thumb towards Fitz and Simmons and Skye. Ward turned toward Coulson, who nodded, and then Ward in turn nodded and joined Triplett in hauling off the agents and hand to lockup. May hung up the phone, clarifying that Fury had been made aware of the situation and was on his way to the Hub to personally interrogate all the agents responsible. 

"What do you say we head back to the bus, I make us a pot of tea, you make us some snacks, and we spend the rest of the night in my bunk with my external hard drive of Disney movies?" Fitz asked, wrapping a protective arm around Simmons as they all started the walk to the plane outside.

"That sounds perfect." Simmons said softly, leaning up to press her lips to Fitz's cheek. "See?" she whispered, lips close to his ear. "I told you that you were a hero. My hero." 

Fitz grinned so wide his cheek's hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help but write a fic that not only featured Simmons rambling on about Fitz the way we often see Fitz do for her, but also let Fitz finally run in and save the day for his precious Jem. Hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
